Picasso's $139m "The Dream" damaged

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/17/picasso.oops.reut/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Picasso's famed "Dream" painting turned into a nightmare for Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn when he accidentally gave the multimillion-dollar canvas an elbow.

Wynn had just finalized a $139 million sale to another collector of his painting, called "Le Reve" (The Dream), when he poked a hole in the artwork while showing it to friends at his Las Vegas office a couple of weeks ago.

Director and screenwriter Nora Ephron, who witnessed and related the incident in her blog on the Huffington Post Web site said Wynn had raised his hand to show the group something about Picasso's 1932 portrait of his mistress Marie-Therese Walter.

"At that moment, his elbow crashed backward right through the canvas. There was a terrible noise," Ephron wrote, noting that Wynn has retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that damages peripheral vision.

"Smack in the middle ... was a black hole the size of a silver dollar. 'Oh s**t,' he said. 'Look what I've done. Thank goodness it was me.' "

[schmosef]

I'm sure it's insured.

Besides, how can a painting really be worth that much money?

If it has significance from an art history perspective it should be in a museum.

Rich people who don't know what to do with their money can be conned into buying anything.

[KvHagedorn]

Art is priceless.. alas it's not immune from stupidity.

[Mehen]

You know, some art like that, I can appreciate a deeper meaner in the disfigured uh, figure... in the painting (and it kind of intrigues me from a psychological point of view)

BUT THAT THING IS @#&^ing UGLY!!!!

[az]

I'm with Schmo.

[Gurm]

Picasso took a lot of dumps in his life. If that were on canvas, would you pay $100 million for it?

Just because someone famous who USED to make good art paints something f$cked-up doesn't mean that the f%cked-up thing is GOOD.

I leave bad art to the suckers.

-----------------

I've been told that it's not SUPPOSED to be good, that it makes you FEEL things.

Well, Edvard Munch's stuff makes me feel things. Picasso? Just makes me feel sorry for anyone who thinks it's good. *snicker*

[Dr Mordrid]

You need to take a good arts class

It's called Cubism, and by the time he painted "The Dream" (1932) Picasso and Matisse were influencing each other in their works in a sort of continuing rivalry. The girl in "The Dream", Marie-Thérèse, was not only his model but his lover.

In 1937 Picasso painted "Guernica" after the NAZI's blitzed that Basque city. IMO his interpretation almost lets you feel the pain of its inhabitants;

[Mehen]

I'm looking from a home and garden TV perspective - that first one wouldn't go with ANYthing!

Like I said before - I understand it has deeper meaning - but its still ugly. An ugly person with a good soul is still ugly - doesn't mean they are a bad person - but they are still ugly. I don't understand why people run loops and logic circles around that argument.

From Liar Liar:
"My teacher tells me real beauty's on the inside."
"That's just something ugly people say."

[Jon P. Inghram]

You need to take a good arts class

Ah, so one needs to be taught to appreciate ugly paintings?

I'd rather have something by Dali,



Seurat,



or van Gogh.

[Dr Mordrid]

All great in their way, but so is Picasso.

[Gurm]

If you need to be "taught" to appreciate it, then it isn't good art. I understand cubism. I understand what his point was. It's still sh1t.

[cjolley]

Painting repair is interesting, but it sounds like a LOT of work.

http://www.slate.com/id/2151857/

explainer
I Punched a Hole in My Picasso!
Now what do I do?
By Daniel Engber
Posted Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006, at 7:03 PM ET

Casino mogul Steve Wynn ripped a hole through his $139 million Picasso painting while gesticulating at a cocktail party, reports the New York Post. Nora Ephron gave her own first-person account of the damage: It was "a black hole the size of a silver dollar … with two three-inch long rips coming off it in either direction." Wynn had just agreed to sell the painting; now, the deal is off. Is there any way to fix the ripped Picasso?
Yes, but it will be slow and tedious work. The torn ends of the canvas can probably be lined up, and conservators can identify matching fibers on either side of the rip by inspecting them under a microscope. In general, you can expect the wefts in the fabric—that is, the crosswise yarns of the weave—to split at the site of the impact. The lengthwise warps tend to get stretched out, but they may not break.
The rip itself can be mended in a few different ways. First, the conservator can line up the torn ends and affix them to a new piece of fabric that lines the back of the painting. She might also try to attach the torn ends to each other using a method called Rissverklebung, in which individual fibers are rewoven back into place.
To reweave the warps and wefts, you have to figure out the proper placement of each individual fiber. Bits of paint that are stuck to the fibers must be glued in place or removed until the reweaving is complete. (Conservators map out the location of each paint flake they remove so it can be replaced in precisely the right spot.) Because an accident will stretch out some fibers and fray others, you sometimes have to tie off and shorten some threads while attaching new material to lengthen others. Threads attached to the back of the canvas will reinforce the seam.
Closing the tear is only the first part of the process. An accident like Wynn's can damage the painting in other places by stretching the fabric and distorting the image. To correct for these planar distortions, the conservators try to change the lengths of individual fibers or small patches of the canvas. Applied humidity can make a fiber expand across its diameter and shrink across its length—and tighten up distended parts of the weave.
Bits of paint that have fallen off the painting must also be replaced. Wynn might have surveyed the scene of the accident and saved any stray bits of paint for the conservators in a petri dish. (Chance are he didn't strip much off the canvas—Ephron says he was wearing a golf shirt, which suggests a bare-elbow blow. An elbow covered with rough fabric would probably have done more damage.) Conservators have to touch up spots of missing paint with fresh material, color-matched to the surrounding area.
One more thing: Conservators always try to make their repairs reversible. That way, you won't cause any permanent damage to the work if you screw up, and someone can always try to improve on your work in the future.
Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.

[Claymonkey]

I've always been of mixed feeling on art that needs to be taught to you to understand it. I can appreciate Picasso because he was pushing boundaries with those around him at the time. They figured this stuff out. If for no other reason I can appreciate his work. Is this one of his best? Not i my opinion. However, that doesn't mean that this doesn't move SOMEONE.

Art restoration is a HUGE industry and if you can do it you can make a great deal of money. However, there are good restorations and bad ones. I'm assuming this man will hire the best.

[ND66]

However, that doesn't mean that this doesn't move SOMEONE.

Lots of people gets moved by the price tag... .

.

[Claymonkey]

Lots of people gets moved by the price tag... .

.

Actually yes. The main reason that certain pieces of art become so highly desired is because someone before you wanted it badly and paid more than the last person. Rich people can be sheep just like the rest of us. They just have more to play with while doing so.